hi :) I just read through your entire website and I think it’s incredible all the places you’ve been and your responses to them! You have an incredible insight on so many topics. I’m hoping to be a travel photojournalist [or anything that revolves around travel] when I’m older – do you have any suggestions on how to become one?

I am glad that you are considering some area of the travel and tourism industry as a career.

Here are some general points as suggestions:

The travel and tourism industry is probably the most diverse and multidimensional industry in the world.

There are an almost unlimited number of specialized fields in it … photojournalism is one of them.

I recommend that you always “think outside the box” … stay ahead of “the game” while at the same time always preserving and conserving the fundamental principles of all journalism: neutrality, critical analysis, always striving for a high degree of good language use, quality, quality, quality, never giving in to the lowest-common-denominator (e.g. Fox TV and ilk) … and I could go on …

Always remember that the human species has an eons-old history of storytelling. It’s all about telling stories that resonate with the hearts and minds of real people.

Anyone can learn to be insightful; it is all about paying attention, being a keen observer, and always asking “Why?” Sometimes asking questions, what journalists do, is more productive than finding “so-called” answers.

Real journalists (travel and otherwise) are eclectic people with an interest in just about anything. Never take anything for granted.

I will soon be posting a podcast on my site called “The Concentric Worlds of Travel and Engineering” recorded with a former student of mine. Use this particular podcast as a case study for just about anything in the world of journalism. Listen to how Ian (a former student of mine) sees and articulates the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things.

Each one of my stories paints a portrait of “the human condition,” about some aspect of our species, themes, and issues especially. Always strive to be issue-oriented but also remember to celebrate the very best in humankind.

Above all, trust your intuition (some would say instinct) and trust your own judgement of how you see the world.

The Philosophical Traveller

The insights and subsequent enlightenment (the latter is always a process and never an event) that you get when you look at life through a different lens, can be liberating. Engaged and participatory travel also involves critical analysis and introspection; and is therefore a creative endeavour. It is an antidote to the “sigh in a shouting mob” syndrome.